INCHEON, Sept 21 — Japan’s Kosuke Hagino stunned China’s Sun Yang and home hero Park Tae-Hwan to snatch gold in an epic start to the Asian Games swimming today.
Favourites Sun and Park, after whom the Incheon centre is named, duelled throughout the 200 metre freestyle race but it was Hagino, 20, who surged to an unexpected win in the final stretch.
Hagino’s exploits followed a record-breaking session at the weightlifting where Taiwan’s Hsu Shu-ching set a new combined mark in the women’s 53kg class.
Hong Kong’s Olympic cycling star Sarah Lee Wai-sze rode off with women’s keirin gold as the action increased on day two of Asia’s Olympics.
China pulled ahead on the medals table with 10 golds to South Korea’s seven, following victories in cycling, shooting and wushu.
Today’s swimming clash was the first in a triple-header between the controversial but prodigiously gifted Sun and “Marine Boy” Park, a poster-boy for the Games in Incheon.
But now they face a new challenge from the 20-year-old Hagino, who also beat American legend Michael Phelps when he took the 200m individual medley at last month’s Pan Pacific championships in Australia.
In the weightlifting, Hsu equalled a new clean and jerk record by Kazakhstan’s Zulfiya Chinshanlo, raising the combined world mark and winning gold in the process.
“I never lifted that much, not even in training,” Hsu said. “My next goal is to win an Olympic gold. I am so happy.”
Hong Kong’s Olympic medal-winner Lee rode to victory in the women’s keirin, punching the air after she crossed the line.
And South Korea unearthed an unlikely hero in Seoul schoolboy Kim Cheong-Yong, 17, who upset the Olympic and world champion Jin Jong-Oh to win the 10m air pistol title.
The shy Kim also helped South Korea bag the team title and said winning Asiad gold was like a “dream come true”.
Lights not fantastic
Badminton’s world number one Lee Chong Wei was unhappy with the glare of the bright lights at the futuristic Gyeyang Gymnasium as he made a winning start in the team event.
“I think this court is very bad for me because the light is not so good,” the Malaysian said.
“Normally there are only lights (at either end), but here you have them all around so you are looking into the light.
“I think it’s tough for all the players.”
China’s multiple world and Olympic champion Lin Dan also won to set up a team semi-final with Malaysia. But Lee will not face Lin, often his nemesis at big events, owing to their rankings.
Meanwhile, Asia’s Olympic chief apologised for two sexual harassment cases in the build-up to the Games but said they may have been down to cultural differences.
Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah told reporters: “With different cultures, sometimes this creates a problem,” he added. “That kind of accident can happen.”
An Iranian official was kicked out of the Games for verbally harassing a volunteer and a Palestinian footballer was accused of groping a woman at an athletes’ village laundry.
At the Asian Games, about 9,500 athletes from 45 countries are competing in 36 sports, including the full Olympic schedule.
While China, South Korea, Japan and other top teams have an army of Olympic and world champions taking part, Aishath Sajina of the Maldives reminded that it is also a Games for minnows.
The Maldives team got one of the biggest cheers of the swimming contest after finishing the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay heats in five minutes, 11.81sec — more than a minute-and-a-half behind China.
Sajina splashed almost the whole two lengths of her anchor leg alone as the other teams toweled off. When Sajina touched it triggered a huge roar in the stadium, matched only by that given to local hero Park.
Later Maldives’ women’s handball team lost 79-0 to Japan, and their women’s footballers went down 13-0 to South Korea — after earlier losing 15-0 and 10-0 to India and Thailand respectively. — AFP
